Friday, July 31, 2015

Five for Friday!: July 31st Edition

Happy Friday!  I'm back to link up with Andrea, Narci, and Erika for my Friday Favorites!
 

1. Our family time that we had in Tampa last week!  The trip was sudden and unexpected since it happened because Ben's Grandma Bonnie but we spent four days in Tampa with Ben's whole family.  You can read about our trip (and the babies' first flight!) here and here.

2. After we got back from Tampa, the girls and I headed to the beach for a few days with my parents!  I love the beach and I keep thinking about how much fun (and tiring!) it will be in a few years!


 

3. This one is kind of a favorite and not favorite at the same time!  I only have two weeks of summer left before I head back to work and I am looking forward to it and not looking forward to it at the same time.  I love my girls but I love my job too and can't wait to meet my newest batch of first graders!  I already have so many ideas going on in my brain that I need to get a notebook to start writing them all down!

4. Sitting up!  Natalie and Noelle have started sitting up with (a lot) of assistance!  I've been practicing with them, especially since their six month photos are next week and I'd love for them to be able to sit up in them!  We were able to get both of them sitting up at the same time and the progression of pictures is hilarious!

 
Sitting up!

 
Sitting up and smiling!

 
One starts to fall backwards, one starts to fall sideways...

 
Boom!  Baby down, baby down!

5. I am excited to see this face again!

 
Riley stayed with my parents while we were in Tampa.  My dad brought her up to us Monday morning and about 15 minutes after she arrived, we left for the beach!  She got to stay home with Ben while we were at the beach but I missed her!  I was so happy to come home yesterday to her and cuddle up with my first born!

That's my Friday!  We have a few plans this weekend but not much.  Most of it will be devoted to unpacking from our back to back trips, cleaning, and working on our sitting skills.  Happy Friday y'all!

Thursday, July 30, 2015

Beach Trip #2

The day after we got back from Tampa, the girls and I headed to the beach to visit my parents!  Ocean City is our favorite beach.  I grew up going to this beach and so did my dad so our family has been going for many many years.  My parents were down there this week for vacation and asked us to come visit! We went down on Monday and came back today.  On the way down Monday, we stopped at my cousin's house for a few hours to visit with her and her two month old baby.  He fell asleep shortly after we arrived so I didn't get any pictures of the cousins together.

Basically all we did at the beach was eat, sleep on the beach, and relax!  I was also able to get some reading in...what's better than reading with one hand while holding a sleeping baby in the other?!  Nothing!  I have a Kindle, which I LOVE, and it made reading with one hand even easier.  No pages to turn.

 
Natalie snoozing away

 
Noelle and Grammy

 
Aren't these hats adorable?!  We've had them since April I think and they finally fit their heads.

 
Natalie practiced her sitting up!

 
Both girls sitting!

 
Working on sitting and smiling at the same time.

 
And the dominos start to fall...

 
Boom!

 
Natalie

 
Natalie trying out the sand.

 
Noelle

 
Me and my cuties!

 
This view never gets old.

 
Excited for dinner!

 
Dinner with a view

 
Assawoman Bay...no joke!

 
Noelle & Natalie



 
More naps on the beach.




 
Stylin' in our shades (Noelle)



 
Such happy babies! (Natalie)



 
Back home!  We tried peas for the first time and liked them!  This is Noelle.

 
And Natalie!

Come back tomorrow for my Friday Favorites!

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Tampa, Days 3&4

Thank you everyone who prayed for my friend and her two little guys yesterday!  She appreciates all of the love and prayers she gets, even from strangers.  Her one little guy did not have any tumors in his eyes, praise God!   Her other little one has his second treatment today, so please keep praying for them!

On to Tampa, Days 3&4!  Friday was our Day 3 and also the day of the funeral.  We woke up to POURING rain and storms, which was a bummer since the funeral was supposed to be outside and we didn't have many umbrellas.  We spent the morning getting ready for the viewing and funeral.  Once we got to the funeral home, we found out that they were able to move everything inside so that we wouldn't all float away.  I joked that Grandma Bonnie, who was always proud of her hair, would have been horrified if we had risked our good looking hair for her!


Uncle Kevin and two future Terps

Naps and babies...what could be better?

The viewing was short followed by the funeral.  It was really nice and you could feel the love for her in the room.  Two of her children spoke and a few of her grandchildren spoke as well.  The Methodist minister the family had found to speak was phenomenal.  He told us how he had retired several years ago, and got tired of cutting grass so he decided to go back to work and felt called to help people say goodbye to their loved ones as a funeral minister.  I thought that was amazing and it takes a special person to do that!  He was really great and I enjoyed hearing him speak.  We also sang three of Grandma Bonnie's favorite songs and ended the service by putting beautiful purple and yellow roses on the casket.  It really was a beautiful service and the babies didn't make a peep the entire time.

Bonnie's seven grandchildren

Playing around with a huge statue of an eagle

Ben's cousins and aunt

Bonnie's three children


After the funeral, the whole family went out to lunch to a well-known restaurant in the Tampa area and one that was a favorite of Ben's grandparents, The Columbia.  They even had their engagement party there when they got engaged!  Since our party was so big, they put us in a little private room with two wonderful waiters and we had a great time continuing our celebration and sharing stories of Grandma Bonnie.  The food was wonderful and the sangria was pretty great as well.


After lunch we all headed back to the house.  It was still raining but had slowed down to a steady rain rather than the pouring monsoon that was happening earlier in the day.  Finally in the early evening the rain stopped and Chessie, Ben, and I finally got out on the jet skis.  That was a lot of fun!  We all retired fairly early that night after a long day.










Saturday was another relaxing day.  The first half of the day was stormy so we all ended up doing different things.  Ben's extended family was leaving on Saturday and we were leaving early Sunday so we all did some packing.  At some point the rain finally stopped so we all tried to go jet skiing and swimming before it was time to leave.  Some of the family went back to the cemetery to see the family graves.  After saying our goodbyes, we had the huge house to ourselves for the last night.  We ate a hodgepodge dinner of whatever was in the fridge and went swimming and sat in the hot tub.  We also watched some TV in the movie room before turning in.



Sunday was a long day.  We left the house at 8:30 for our 10:55am flight.  We made it through the airport no problem and had some time to grab breakfast before boarding.  Since we all travelled home together we were able to sit in two rows and passed the babies back and forth.  The girls did great again, except when we landed.  Both babies were asleep as we landed and poor Noelle was abruptly awoken by the landing.  She immediately grabbed her ears and started screaming.  I think the pressure change was making her ears hurt, poor thing.  She cried for about 15 minutes before settling down to whimpers and finally stopped as we got off the plane and into the airport.  After we got our luggage and the cars, we grabbed lunch at the Greene Turtle and headed home!


Even though it was an unexpected trip, it was great to get together with family and celebrate Grandma Bonnie's life and to say goodbye.  It was fun to see Tampa, a place I had not been before, and to see how special the city was to Ben's grandparents.